Public utilities provide electric, gas, water or telephone service to customers in a specified area. Utilities have a duty to provide safe and adequate service on reasonable terms to anyone who lives within the service area on without discriminating between customers. Because most utilities operate in near monopolistic conditions, they can be heavily regulated by local, state, and federal authorities. Generally, the local and state agencies are called Public Service Commissions (PSC) or Public Utility Commissions (PUC). Municipal Utilities and Rural Electric Cooperatives may be unregulated though.
Hayden is a Statutory Town in Routt County, Colorado, United States. The population was 1,634 at the 2000 census. The town sits along U.S. Highway 40 in the Yampa River Valley between Craig and Steamboat Springs. Historically a center of coal mining and agriculture, it consists today of a small cluster of homes and businesses. The town is named for Ferdinand Hayden, a surveyor who explored western Colorado during the late 19th century.